Historically, as far back as 1890, the American Electro-Therapeutic Association conducted annual conferences on the therapeutic use of electricity and electrical devices by physicians on ailing patients. Some involved current flow through the patient with direct contact to electricity producing machines, while others were electrically powered devices presenting strong electric fields in the vicinity of the patient. The great electrical engineer, Nikola Tesla states that “One of the early observed and remarkable features of the high frequency currents, and one which was chiefly of interest to the physician, was their apparent harmlessness which made it possible to pass relatively great amounts of electrical energy through the body of a person without causing pain or serious discomfort” (Tesla, Nikola. “High Frequency Oscillators for Electro-Therapeutic and Other Purposes,” The Electrical Engineer, Vol. XXVI, No. 550, Nov. 17, 1898, p. 477). At first, only direct current (DC) devices were utilized in the medical doctor's office for relieving pain and vibrating female patients who were routinely diagnosed with “hysteria.” Tesla also correctly concluded that bodily “tissues are condensers” (capacitors) in his 1898 paper. Today, the average capacitance of bodily tissue is well known and confirmed to be about 100-300 pF (Sheppard, A. R., et al., Biological Effects of Electric and Magnetic Fields of Extremely Low Frequency, New York University Press, New York, 1977, Ch. 5, p. 4-18).
A pioneering medical doctor in the 1960's, Robert O. Becker, M.D., is most famous for his book, The Body Electric, Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life, (William Morrow & Co., New York, 1985) which gives an autobiographical account of his life's experiences with bioelectromagnetics, the science of using electromagnetic fields for biological benefits and effects. As documented in his book, Dr. Becker was instrumental in establishing that the Chinese meridians of the body which connect traditional acupuncture points are skin pathways of decreased electrical resistance. This bioelectric principle has not been utilized in any medical or electrotherapeutic device to date. Dr. Becker also discovered a host of other bioelectric effects within the body as well, such as electrostimulating limb-regeneration in mammals.
While prior art transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulators (TENS) are typically utilized to mask pain in the body before they reach the brain, giving the subject an apparent relief of the pain, they typically work only with a battery-operated electronic box connected by wires to the subject. Furthermore, such electric nerve stimulators operate in the hundreds of milliampere (mA) range rather than in the microampere (uA) range of the present invention. While electric nerve stimulators are usually applied only over a short period of time, the present invention can be used for any length of time, even up to twenty-four hours a day for health and longevity improvement. A good reference book on this therapeutic field is Electrotherapy Explained: Principles and Practice by Val Robertson. FDA-approved TENS units relieve pain and provide up to a few hundred milliampere current levels for nerve stimulation only, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,986 that attempts to be ergonomic in its design.
Another area of concern affecting the health and well-being of a large number of the population is chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The causes for CFS are still undetermined. Some studies suggest multiple nutrient deficiencies can trigger chronic fatigue. Therefore, proper nutrition, consisting of a well balanced diet is vitally important. Fresh fruits and raw foods are especially recommended. Herbs that are helpful include ginkgo, astragalus, red clover, dandelion and short term use of echinacea to help boost the immune system, which is always affected by CFS, as is commonly taught in naturopathy. To help improve the interrupted sleep pattern, valerian root or melatonin at bedtime is also helpful.
Although numerous studies have been conducted to find the underlying causes of CFS, none have succeeded in understanding its physiological or chemical pathways. Some studies have shown that deficiencies of the adrenal or thyroid glands have been found in CFS patients. This has prompted the medical opinion that stress can trigger CFS, whether it is of mental or physical origin. Therefore energy boosting therapies as well as vitamins and antioxidant supplementation which are known to combat free radical proliferation is now considered to be extremely important.
The process by which free radicals deplete cellular energy is well known. Free radical proliferation is linked to pathological changes that cause cellular malfunction or mutation (i.e., cancer) as well as protein and collagen degradation, most noticeable in visible facial skin wrinkling. Free radicals also play a large role in causing damage to all cells of the body but particularly the immune system. Free radicals also deplete cellular energy by interfering with mitochondrial function and contribute to shortened lifespan, according to studies with animal species and are the main cause of aging. Cellular energy generation in the mitochondria is both a key source and key target of oxidative stress in the cells. Seeking an electron to complete the radical which is an ion that is missing an electron, free radicals cause chain reactions as electrons are ripped from molecules, creating another free radical. Standard college organic chemistry textbooks (e.g., Streitwieser, Introduction to Organic Chemistry, 2nd ed., MacMillan, 1981, p. 101) emphasize that since the chlorine molecule (Cl2) dissociates at body temperature, a warm shower is enough to create a chlorine radical (Cl−) bath as a person takes a shower in the morning. The Streitwieser textbook also details the number of free radical chain reaction (multiplications) that every one of the chlorine radicals creates, which is an astonishing 10,000 additional free radicals. Free radicals are all-pervading and a leading cause of the aging process because they are able to multiply so readily while doing irreparable damage if antioxidants are absent. The only antidote presently available for such an onslaught of daily shower skin aging agents is an activated charcoal shower filter, which is relatively unknown to the general public. However, with free radicals in the air, water and food, only an internal source of antioxidants can feasibly attack the majority of the free radicals in the biological terrain consisting of organs, tissue, blood stream and lymphatic system. The present invention counteracts this major cause of aging by a novel and unobvious technological innovation in healing and electrotherapy.
Cellular energy generation in the mitochondria is another area of concern since it is both a key source and key target of oxidative stress in the cell. One can therefore envision a model whereby the inevitable increased production of free radicals due to energy generation as well as stress and disease compromises mitochondrial efficiency and also energy output in a detrimental feedback loop. Therefore, in the short term, sports professionals will have a decrease in performance after an hour or two of competition and in the long term, most aging humans experience a decrease of vitality and energy as they move into their senior years.
Antioxidants such as vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C, selenium and coenzyme Q10 supply free electrons and are usually prescribed by naturopathic doctors in order to provide limited relief in counteracting free radical ravages, as long as they are taken regularly. However, vitamin C is water soluble and is excreted from the body in about three hours so ideally one should supplement with vitamin C every three hours to be able to handle stress, which is known to deplete the body of vitamin C. Furthermore, humans as opposed to animals do not make vitamin C in their bodies automatically in response to stress.
The innovative discovery by this inventor is that electronic antioxidants can be produced by bioelectromagnetics (BEM) therapy on a continuous or programmed basis through electric therapeutic clothing. While there are external devices that produce the same electrons provided by antioxidant pills and also satisfy and terminate free radicals even more effectively because of their greater concentration of antioxidant quantity and continuous release modality, none have been incorporated into electrified clothing with strategic conductive pads at specifically chosen acupuncture points, designed by a naturopathic doctor such as this inventor. Electricity itself, even in microcurrent doses, abundantly supplies the key ingredient usually found only in encapsulated antioxidant supplements . . . the electron. The discovery that the electron itself is the main active ingredient in antioxidants has been documented in books such as, Energy Medicine by Dr. James Oschman and Bioelectromagnetic Healing by Thomas Valone, PhD. However, the concept of being conveniently and therapeutically designed to contact the skin at strategic points for hours through an electrified wearable clothing product has not been manufactured or sold to the public.
An example of the use of the invention title in a different sense is Japanese patent JP 407229004A issued for “electric clothing” by Kazumi is controllable by a liquid crystal display and has fine wires throughout the fabric in a network shape. However, the clothing is plugged into a receptacle and external power source with a cable attached to the clothing, only for the purpose of displaying an image, like a video display terminal, directly on the clothing. The Kazumi invention has no therapeutic benefits whatsoever.
Other areas of electricity being applied to the human body includes U.S. Pat. No. 6,472,888 which is drawn to a device for measuring bioelectric impedance which is not used or designed for therapeutic purposes.
An example of a bioelectromagnetic handheld device that is a therapy instrument is a microelectroneural stimulation (MENS) unit with a battery-powered low voltage current device, usually between 1 μA and 1000 μA. One microamp (μA) is 1/1000 of a milliamp (mA), so 1000 μA equals 1 mA. Most TENS devices have a working range of 2-250 mA. However, no MENS therapy device has been modified to work with conductive fibers in a clothing product.
An example of an electrically conducting fiber suitable for use with this invention is U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,593 which teaches a method of manufacture that allows the fibers to absorb monovalent copper ions and convert them to copper sulfide and still retain the characteristics of acrylic fiber.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 3,014,818 which teaches the process of converting metal salts to free metal particles that adhere to the surface of the clothing fibers forming a plated coating. However, it will not survive too many repeated clothes washing cycles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,364,739 describes and claims a method for making electrically conducting fiber which comprises subjecting acrylic and modacrylic fibers to a first heat treatment in a bath containing a copper compound and a reducing agent to absorb monovalent copper ions within the fiber and then subjecting the fiber to a second heat treatment in the presence of a sulfur compound to form copper sulfide. This method has the advantage that a considerable increase in electrical conductivity results from the treatment and the fibers formed can be washed repeatedly without a substantial reduction in the electrical conductivity.
There are also many patents devoted to delivering electrical stimulus to human tissue with an exogenous device and movable, free electrodes such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,461 or the power muscle stimulator U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,987. However, none of them operate in the microcurrent range and have been integrated into clothing to counteract free radicals.
An example of an electrotherapy invention is the U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,604 awarded to Larry Azure and Jim Girard that describes a high voltage Tesla coil electron producing device attached to noble gas tubes to treat HIV/AIDS, according to the disclosure that cites a study done with his device, with only short term exposure at a short distance of a few feet from the patients. The electrotherapy device was used in an HIV+ ten-patient clinical study in 1996 by the New York Health and Healing Center that relieved pain and the majority (50% to 84%) of symptoms in nine out of the ten patients. Such a product is expensive, large and even a shock hazard however. It also does not have a miniature counterpart that has been integrated into clothing along with its power source for microcurrent applications.
Another example is the “Electrical Stimulation to Reduce Free Radical Levels” U.S. Pat. No. 6,751,506 by Norman Shealy, MD, which is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference. The Shealy patent describes the vast theory and practice related to free radical damage and the electrical stimulation approach to solving it using exogenous electrodes temporarily applied to the skin to deliver pulsating high frequency doses of AC electricity. The Shealy patent also proves the case for electronic antioxidants being superior to capsules and pills used for oral supplementation. However, the ShealyTENS unit is inconvenient to use on a daily basis and requires repeated hand placement of electrodes without adhesive in various locations on the body. The Shealy patent does not include a microcurrent application imbedded in clothing for ease of use.